Chiara Floor Lamp

The Chiara lamp by Flos features a single sheet of stainless steel folded over itself like a shimmering cloak. This ingenious 1969 design was born from Mario Bellini's desire to use light as it manifests itself in our surroundings and landscapes: indirectly, without exposing the bulb, often filtered through clouds or reflected off walls and surfaces.

Instead of designing a lamp, Bellini created a device capable of capturing artificial light and reflecting it gracefully and intelligently into the environment. His innovative thinking led him to create a cylinder using a sheet of cardboard, topped with a wider, hat-shaped structure that could reflect the light source housed in the base.

This original design was called 'Chiara,' which means clear in Italian. Bellini justified the name as it represented something clear and full of light. The Chiara Lamp project initially began with a simple sheet of cardboard, which was later converted to stainless steel. The sheet was cut to roll into a cylinder, with three cuts at the base corresponding to the three rings that hold the lamp.

The hat-shaped structure, positioned at a 45-degree angle, gives the Chiara floor lamp a light and charismatic appeal. This design element contributes significantly to the lamp's strong and ironic identity, reminiscent of a nun's hat.